Date: Fri 17-Nov-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

Schmidle-town-clerk-hsitorical

Full Text:

w/photo; Mae Schmidle Relates Tales Of Newtown's Town Clerks

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Without heat and electricity as a result of weekend's storm, Mae Schmidle was

reminded of how Newtown's first official town clerk, John Glover, must have

lived after he built the house on Echo Valley Road in 1710.

"John Glover was one of the first settlers of Newtown and in today's

vernacular might be called a speculator or perhaps even a wheeler and dealer,"

Mrs Schmidle said. "But nonetheless, he was brave enough to gather up his

family from New Haven and Milford and head north into the unknown wilderness,

full of not only Indians but also wolves and wildcats and many other

undesirable critters and varmits - by this time I think he was on his second

wife as well."

Mr Glover built the house on Echo Valley Road, where the Schmidles have lived

for many years, and he was elected clerk of the first "lawful town meeting"

which was held in 1711.

"In those early years town officials were elected annually for one year,

usually in December and sometimes even on Christmas Eve," Mrs Schmidle said.

"John Glover, being one of the few settlers who was able to read or write,

quickly established himself as clerk. I believe it was always his intention to

get involved in the governance of the new community and the acquisition of

land. Acquiring land was immensely important to him and at one time early in

our colonial history he was considered the largest landholder in Newtown."

Many of Newtown's town clerks have been interesting characters, Mrs Schmidle,

who served 10 years in the position, told the Newtown Historical Society at

its monthly meeting in the Newtown Meeting House Monday evening. Until the

1930s, all of the town clerks were men, many followed by their sons in the

position.

"In the early days, all property owners had to attend the town meetings unless

they were getting married at the time or died. If they failed to attend, they

were fined three shillings," Mrs Schmidle said. "Most of the early meetings

seemed to be obsessed with how to get a minister and how to pay him."

In the very early days there were two meetings in Newtown, the lawful town

meeting and the proprietor's meeting. Peter Hubbell is occasionally referred

to as the first town clerk, Mrs Schmidle said, but more correctly was the

clerk of the proprietor's meeting (of which there is a whole separate volume

in the town clerk's vault).

By about the middle of the 1700s there was so much land activity and

transaction going on that the town meeting voted that the land records and

town meetings be transcribed into the first Book of Records. They appointed

Capt Caleb Baldwin and Lt John Northrop to transcribe and index the

information.

"Until that point everything was recorded on individual pieces of paper, often

kept in the town clerk's coat pockets," Mrs Schmidle said.

Caleb Baldwin was so taken up with his new duties that he decided to become

town clerk and served from 1765 until 1799 when his son, Caleb, took over,

serving until 1843.

"The Baldwins lived in the colonial house on Main Street now owned by Gordon

Williams next to the balcony house. The Baldwins also ran an inn - a stage

coach stop - in the house," Mrs Schmidle said. "Caleb stopped keeping town

records in his living room when the new town hall was built - the small brick

building next door which is now the antiques library owned by Scudder Smith."

The Baldwins amassed what, at that time, was considered an astronomical

collection of 100 books that eventually became the nucleus of the first town

library.

By the days of the Victorian era, the population of Newtown had begun to

change. An influx of Irish immigrants brought Newtown its first Irish town

clerk, Michael Houlihan, a large, handsome man with a sizeable handlebar

moustache.

"In those days the office of the town clerk was such a lofty position that

Michael Houlihan was known as The Honorable Michael Houlihan," Mrs Schmidle

said. "He was also the secretary/treasurer of the huge bicentennial

celebration held in 1905."

In 1882 the town bought a building on Main Street which became available when

the parishoners of St Rose Church moved from that location to Church Hill

Road. (This town hall eventually was torn down and replaced by Edmond Town

Hall in 1929.)

By 1909 Oscar Pitschler was elected town clerk and served for more than 20

years.

"He was a colorful town character who also helped out in a barber shop that

his brother, Ed, owned near the flagpole," Mrs Schmidle said. "Frequently he

would leave in the middle of a haircut to record a deed. There was more money

in recording than in haircutting - and he knew that someone with only half a

haircut would not walk out of the barbershop."

In 1916 the town clerk's office and the probate court office together had a

budget of $188.69. The probate court was still located in the brick building

and Mr Pitschler complained loudly when they had to pay $2 to get the bricks

cleaned.

At that time, the clerk could set and keep the fees that were charged for

recording deeds and issuing licenses. (One year Mr Pitschler issued 395 dog

tags at a cost of five cents each.) He was also the registrar of voters and a

notary public.

Newtown's first female town clerk, May Ellen Sullivan, was elected in the

early 1930s and served until 1953. "She was the first town clerk to serve in

the new town hall and in her later years was known to file deeds behind the

new radiators," Mrs Schmidle said. "She lived on what is now Route 302 and was

one of the first women in Newtown to drive a car. She was also the first town

clerk to use a typewriter."

A Democrat, she shared power during most of those years with the other

powerful town official, Tax Collector Bob Camp, a Republican.

"Bob Camp liked to keep the tax collections in a cigar box which he frequently

had to be reminded to take home," Mrs Schmidle said. "He took in the

collections through a frosted window which is in the hallway that goes toward

the Probate Court. But he kept all the records under his bed at his home on

The Boulevard."

In the late 1950s, Jack Schwenk, a handsome, dapper gentlemen who was also

president of the Lions club, was elected town clerk. "A resident of Great

Quarter Road in Sandy Hook, he liked to vacation in the winter in Florida and

one year he had a heart attack and never made it back," Mrs Schmidle said.

Following Mr Schwent was Herb Cutler, who later served as the town treasurer

for many years, then his daughter, Barbara Parker, followed by Mae Schmidle,

Betty Smith and her daughter, the current town clerk, Cindy Curtis.

Among the other interesting town clerks - and there were many, Mrs Schmidle

said - was Sallu Pell Barnum, who was the innkeeper about 1820 in the roadside

tavern that was located where the Booth Library stands today, and Charles

Henry Peck, clerk from 1873 to 1885, who amassed and preserved a large

collection of manuscripts, relics and memorabilia of Newtown.

"In 1714, when the first population count was done, Newtown had 2,200

residents," Mrs Schmidle said. "If they couldn't agree at a town meeting, they

would adjourn to go home and `fast and pray.'" As late as the 1930s, town

clerks were still writing deeds and wills. Today Newtown has 22,000 residents

and the town clerk no longer writes deeds and wills. But the office performing

over 100 different functions, serving a steady stream of residents on a daily

basis."